Rina, Sam and Jade were at the hall that Isabel wanted to hold the banquet at, seeing it on the nest's behalf as Sam started to tell them about how she envisioned everything as Rina and Jade let her take over, knowing that this aspect was more her element anyways.

Rina always asks her why she never just became an events planner but Sam retorted with "it was easier to guard you if I was actually in the same class as you".

"And the payment has been sent by the nest?" Jade asks Mr. Isaac Jeffries, the man who was showing them the venue.

"Yes" Mr. Jeffries says with a nod.

"How is your security?" Rina asks him, recalling how the Fellowship managed to get a suicide bomber into Godric's old nest.

They definitely can't have a repeat of that for this specific night.

"Well our security is very good but as I've heard the AVL will also be sending some security of their own?" he asks them, looking for confirmation at this.

"Is that going to be a problem for you?" Jade asks him, crossing her arms over her chest as she takes a more intimidating stance at this.

"Oh no" he says, "not at all" he adds. "We would be honoured to have the sheriff's nest host this event here" he adds.

"Good" Rina says with a smile as she watched Sam take pictures, probably envisioning already what the colours of the draping and all else will look like.

"How many staff members will there be on the night?" Jade asks Mr. Jeffries as she uncrossed her arms as the man visibly relaxed at the action.

"We'll have around 40 to 50 staff" he says, "excluding the guards" he adds.

"And with the guards?"

"Perhaps around 85 or 90" he says as Jade nods at this, pleased to hear that there would be a lot of security. This event had to go off without a hitch or it could set vampire-human relations back many years.

Normally she wouldn't have cared but since Godric is Rina's bonded mate his successes are her successes so as her guardians they have to help him because along with being Rina's bonded mate he is also their liege lord for being Rina's bonded mate and their loyalties also extend to him.

"We'll be needing a list of all the staff in attendance" Rina speaks up as she turned to face the man. "After the events of the destruction of the last nest I'm sure you can understand why safety measures must be taken so seriously" she adds as the man nods at this.

"Yes, of course" he says with a nod. "I'll have the list emailed to you by the end of today" he adds as Rina and Jade nod at this as Sam made her way back toward them.

"Did you find everything Ms. Kingsley?" Mr. Jeffries asks her.

"Yes" Sam nods. "Thank you for all your assistance in showing us around, Mr. Jeffries" she says to him as he nodded at this.

"Please, allow me to walk you ladies out" he says to them as he showed them out the large and opulent hall.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Everything went off without a hitch?" Julian asks them as they got into the car.

"Oh yeah" Rina nods.

"Did you see any vantage points for casting spells?" Jade asks her sister.

"Spells? For what?" Rina asks them.

"Rina, this is a huge event that will have many supernaturals not excluding weres and shifters" Sam pints out, "there will be plenty of people hoping for this night to fail, not excluding hateful humans and spiteful supernaturals" she adds.

"Like witches?" Rina asks, having heard from them about how most witches hated other supernaturals, especially vampires.

"Exactly" Jade says, "the spells will be wards against their magic" she adds.

"You ladies are always 5 steps ahead" Mac chuckles as he started the car.

"When you've been alive as long as us Mac, you wise up" Sam says to him as he drove off.

"You two always say that you're old but how old are you two really?" Julian asks th amusedly, looking at them through the rear view mirror in the passenger seat.

"Well we've been here on this earth for about 90 years now" Jade replies as Julian chokes on air at this.

"But-But you two don't look any older than 28" he says to them.

"Ironically enough neither of us found the idea of looking older them 30 too exciting" Sam says as she scrolled through her phone.

"So you just chose to be in your mid to late 20s and you just were?" Mac asks them amusedly.

"Yeah, basically" Jade says with a nod.

"And my-my mom?" Rina finally speaks up. "How did she age?" she asks them.

"Your mother gave up her powers to grow old with your father" Jade admits to her.

"Didn't you guys say that a phoenix's bonded mate has their mortality increased?"

"Yes" Sam agrees, "but phoenixes are able to...give up their powers in order to live human lives" she adds, "not many have but they can" she adds.

"Why give up their immortality though?" Julian asks them, thinking out loud as he pondered the very thought of it.

It made little sense to him for an immortal creature to give up their mortality just so that they could live a mortal life.

"It boils down to personal choice" Sam says but Rina can't help feeling like there's more to it. Godric did acknowledge that Sam and Jade were very apt at omissions until it came time to reveal a particular piece of information.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

When Godric, Bel and Joe woke up Sam, Rina and Jade had already made a PowerPoint presentation with pictures and a blueprint detailing everything that would be done for the banquet, including things like where security detail are expected to be.

Rina was very impressed by how confidently Sam presented the ideas that they'd spent hours putting together to all of them as she next to Godric.

"So, what do you think?" Rina asks Godric nervously when Sam finishes with her presentation as she grabbed a seat.

"It's excellent" Godric says as Rina smiles happily at this, "all of you have done an amazing job" he says, "and have certainly eased the workload that Isabel, Joseph and I carried" he adds.

"Julian and Mac helped us with putting the security detail stuff together" Rina says to him.

"Yes, I gathered as much" Godric acknowledges to Rina with a smile. "Everything seems to have come along quite beautifully, is that not so Isabel?" He asks his second.

"I don't think I'll ever have to worry about planning the nest's events with you three ladies here" Isabel agrees with a smile, teasing them as she does.

"Thank goodness we won't have to because I still can't tell these apart" Joe says as he held up the two envelopes that would be carrying the invites for the vampire monarchs since Isabel said that they were 'old-school' and would still require written invites in addition to electronic ones.

"The left is a linen finish and the right is a watermarked venom finish" Sam says with a glare, annoyed that she has to repeat this for the umpteenth time. "Everyone else remembers which is which, right?" she asks them as she glanced about the room as Rina nodded quickly at this as Sam narrows her eyes playfully at her as Jade snorts at this.

"I still can't fucking tell the difference, sorry" Jade says as she throws her hands up in surrender.

"Thank you!" Joe says to Jade as Sam looks to the heavens for patience.

"Please just leave the envelopes to me, sheriff" Sam says to Godric, "because if I have to explain the difference to these three again then I might end up hitting one of them" she says as she gestured to Joe, Jade and Rina.

Everyone chuckles at this, knowing that she's only kidding as Godric nodded at this, effectively ending their meeting as everyone else started to file out the room and headed downstairs where the vampires of the sheriffdom were arriving or had already arrived.

"Isabel, I've emailed the list of names to you for backgrounds checks and cross referencing" Jade says to the other woman they filed out the room.

"Oh, thank you dear, I'll have them sent to our private investigators immediately" she says.

"So" Rina says to Godric when everyone else had filed out the room, "how are your stress levels now?" she asks him with a smile, recalling how stressed he was a few days ago.

"I have none whatsoever, grá mo chroí" he admits, "I leave everything in yours and the Kingsley sisters' capable hands" he says to her.

"It's good that you defer to our good judgment, sheriff" Rina says with a teasing wink, "although, in the spirit of honesty and full disclosure, it was the others who did most of the work" she adds, "I just made a few contributions" she adds humbly.

Godric smiles at her humility as he draws her closer, offering her a smile that makes her blush as he does. Godric grins when he feels her embarrassed state through their bond.

Their bond was almost as strong as the one that he shared with his progeny even though she's only had his blood once.

He has no doubt that it's because they are bonded mates and that it would grow even stronger with time and if she drank more of his blood.

"Don't look at me like that" Rina says shyly as Godric chuckles at this.

"Like what, mo grá" he asks innocently despite knowing exactly what she means.

"We should probably get downstairs" Rina says to him, "your subjects will revolt and chop my head off if I keep you from them for much longer" she teases as she wraps her arms around his neck.

"They wouldn't dare" Godric says before she crashes her lips against his as Godric kissed her back.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Rina stood with Sam and Louisa, one of the vampires that Kim had introduced them to as the trio chatted. Louisa was a little shorter than Rina with bright blue eyes and dark black hair which made her all that much paler as it contrasted her pale features.

Sam and Louisa were discussing fashion as Louisa told them all about how much she loved fashion and how she used to be the dress maker for Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife, Marie Louise I, in France in the 1800s as Rina asked her historical questions which Louisa was more than happy to answer.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Rina was sitting outside the house in the backyard patio as she stared at the moon and watched the guards patrolling the grounds, wondering if any of them felt the urge to shift even though the moon was a crescent moon.

Ever since discovering the differing types of supernaturals she sees the world through completely different eyes.

Hell, even she is a supernatural and sees the word differently because of this.

"Why are you sitting here?" A familiar voice asks her as she turned to see Jade sit across from her.

"I don't want to push my luck and accidentally hurt someone" Rina replies with a half-smile as she took a sip of her water. "Why are you here?" she throws back amusedly.

"Looking for you" Jade admits to her. "You do realize that you have far better control of yourself than you give yourself credit for, right?" She asks Fina.

"Yeah, but it's best that I don't push my luck" Rina replies as she takes another sup of her water. Rina contemplates whether to ask Jade the question that's been bothering her all day but eventually decides against it as she took another sip of her water. "Where's Kim?" she finally speaks up.

"She left a while ago" Jade admits, "something about her maker calling or something" she adds dismissively.

"I've never really wanted to pry but how long have you guys been an item item?" Rina asks her, "and if I'm being annoying then you're totally welcome to tell me off by the way" she adds as Jade throws her head back and laughs at this.

"It's fine" she reassures Rina. "It's been a little over a year actually" she reveals.

"So a little while after the Great Revelation" Rina says as Jade nods.

"It wasn't as easy at first" Jade admits, "I mean I'd always known about vampires but the world was just learning that they were real and people were...less than welcoming, shall we say?" she adds with a humorless smile as Rina nods at this.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that Jade" Rina says to her.

"Water under the bridge" Jade says with a dismissive wave of the hand in that classic Kingsley way that only they can do.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Rina was in her room, going through the news articles on her laptop as she listened to music. As a student of journalism is was almost mandatory that she be kept up with the news and even the news of international countries.

She reads about earthquakes, typhoons and dictators for long enough before finally closing her laptop screen and deciding that she had seen more than enough.

She heads downstairs and sees the best still buzzing with activity as she heads to the kitchen and opens the freezer, searching for ice cream given her random craving for some, which can only mean that 'shark week' as she likes to refer to it was soon approaching.

"What on earth are you looking for?" Joe asks from behind her as she continued to rummage through the freezer.

"Ice cream" Rina retorts, "we don't have any" she says as she drew back from the freezer and closed it.

"You're thinking of going to get some, aren't you?" Joe accuses when he sees the look on her face.

"Duh" Rina says to him. "I'm craving snacks" she says to him.

"I'll go get Julian" he says as he prepared to go call the man.

"No don't" she stops him, "I'll be gone for like 5-6 minutes tops, Joe" she says, "There's really no need to go get him" she says.

"If you think I'm going to let you go out by yourself then your cravings have also affected your brains cells" he replies.

"Wow, some brother you are" Rina says as she crosses her arms over her chest and fixes him with a look for the comment.

"I'm getting Julian" Joe says.

"Fine. Whatever" Rina says as he flashed off as she opens the kitchen window and flies out before Joe can return as she took off to the nearest overnight convenience store.

She lands in the back, not wanting to scare anyone as she made her around to the front of the store and walked inside as the detector beeped as she made her way to the snacks and grabbed some before heading over to the freezers and grabbing a tub of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream as well as a tub of their Chocolate Chip ice cream before heading to the cash register and the elderly man sitting behind it.

She places all the snacks before him as he arches a brow at this but says nothing else as he started to run the products up for her as two men make their way into the store as the elderly man packed the items into paper bags for Rina as she took out her card and prepared to pay for the items.

"Nobody move!" one of the men shouts as they shot the camera which sparked before dying pitifully as Rina screamed at this as she took cover as they stormed over and demanded that the old man give them the money in his cash register.

"Give us the money or this bitch dies!" one of them says as he grabs Rina as her heart started to hammer in her chest as she cried out at the man's grip on her as the old man shakily moved to give them the money in his cash register.

"Let me go" Rina says to him.

"Who do you-?"

The man doesn't get to finish his sentence before he's thrown into the freezers in the blink of an eye as he crashed into them as his associate turned to face the source of the commotion only to see a young looking vampire standing behind the woman his friend had been aiming the gun at.

"Fucking vampire!" robber 2 shouts angrily before moving to fire his gun at Godric only to find himself pinned against the wall less than a second later as Godric hisses furiously at this as the man cried out, peeing himself as he did.

"Leomh tú do airm a thine ar mo bhean, a dhuine?! I mo láthair?! (You dare to fire your weapon at my woman, human?! In my presence)?!" Godric asks him furiously in Ancient Celtic in that gentle and yet terrifying way of his.

"Don't hurt him" Rina says to Godric, "he's just a punk" she adds only for robber 1 to fire 3 bullets at Rina as the old man behind the counter screamed at this

Godric tossed robber 2 aside as he flashed over to his friend and savagely sinks his fangs into the man's neck, fueled by his anger at the man's actions as the man screamed in pain at this before Godric eventually threw him half-way across the store, further damaging the store as he turned to face Rina only to find that the bullets suspended in mid-air before her.

Her eyes look between him and the bullets and even she seems shocked to see that the bullets are frozen mid-air just as Godric is as Rina touches the three bullets as they glow red before melting completely as Rina looked at the melted bullets in shock.

The old man behind the counter screams but Godric flashes over to him and glamours him to forget everything that he had seen before knocking the man out and then dialing Isabel and calling her to come immediately as he turned to face Rina, feeling horrified that she had to see him act so savagely.

His mouth was coated in the blood of the human whose neck he'd savagely ripped into though he had not killed the man.

Rina opens her mouth to say something to him only to be interrupted by Isabel and Joe's arrival.

Godric – feeling ashamed with his lack of restraint – informs them about what happened as they all worked to promptly address everything.